Anti-Corruption Leader Discusses Secret to Unrigging the System

Josh Silver is the founder and director of Represent.us, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to ending political corruption in America. He was also the man in charge of the Unrig the System Summit in New Orleans, La.

IVN spent several days on the campus of Tulane University for the summit and interviewed a number of newsmakers and politicians, all of whom are concerned with the health of our democracy and focused on how to break apart the monopoly that is the two-party system that is failing the country.

One of those interviews was with Josh Silver who was very candid on a number of political hot topics.

Below is the video interview and highlights from the conversation:

Gerrymandering

“For too long the two parties have been drawing these congressional districts all around the country, 86% of the districts are now uncompetitive. And when the general election is uncompetitive, the competition is in the primary and in the primary election, that tends to be the more extreme voters. The system is incentivizing politicians to appeal to the most extreme voters.”

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Two-Party System

“Duopolies don’t work in commerce and business and they don’t work in politics. So the coming together of conservatives and progressives here in New Orleans is really starting to grab hold in a way it never has before. People are recognizing that only 25% of Americans self-identify as liberal, 38% self-identify conservative, and just 36% self-identify as moderate. Not one of those blocks is going to win anything on their own so I think it’s pretty exciting that there is a willingness of partisans to build a consensus, put down their swords, and figure out where they agree in order to unrig the system.”

I think it's pretty exciting that there is a willingness of partisans to build a consensus, put down their swords and figure out where they agree in order to unrig the system.

Josh Silver, Founder and Executive Director of Represent.US

The Independent Movement

“If we can pass the perfect laws to get more independents elected which I know I’m for and you’re for, you still need ethics reforms, you still need to fix the gerrymandering problem, you still need to get more people voting. There’s a lot to do and we’re doing it here.”

Rigged Election System

“They’re finally starting to make the connection that our rigged election system, the way we vote is broken, the way that candidates run for office is broken, the way that politicians govern once they’re in office is broken. Until we fix that, we’re not going to fix any of these other issues that have been so stuck and moving backwards over the last few decades.”